


Questionable Group of Friends

by barkingyeol



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Attempted Fluff, M/M, Natsume Yuujinchou AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-22
Updated: 2015-02-22
Packaged: 2018-03-14 14:03:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 17,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3413369
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/barkingyeol/pseuds/barkingyeol
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kyungsoo saw things people couldn’t and didn't want to see. Chanyeol was the new transfer student with hidden agenda. And the school ghosts, well, they simply adored the two.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Posted respectively on 10, 11 & 12 Jan'15 on LJ [here](http://barkingyeol.livejournal.com/5596.html) for Kyungsoo's bday ヽ(*ﾟｰﾟ*)ﾉ  
> Originally written for strengthinfire  
> 

The classroom was empty save for himself, but it's too noisy for Kyungsoo. It's always too noisy for Kyungsoo. No matter how hard he tried to ignore them they would never shut up. Sometimes they talked in turns, sometimes they all talked at the same time. He rarely replied, but they talked to him anyway.

Kyungsoo first saw them on his first day of primary school. A peculiar hyung with pink hair was running around the hallways in panic looking for his "baozi". Kyungsoo didn't know what a baozi was, but judging from the distraught look on the rather girly looking hyung, Kyungsoo decided it was a very important thing and wanted to help him out. So the all-too-naive 7 year-old Kyungsoo went to greet him. A decision in which later became one of the two greatest regrets in his life; the other one being how he was so easily persuaded to be introduced to the said hyung's, who later introduced himself as Luhan, questionable group of friends.

_"HE CAN SEE ME HE CAN SEE US!"_

They fell in love with him almost instantly.  
But maybe love was an understatement.  
They were obsessed with him, their little Kyungsoo.

Kyungsoo, however, considered himself as very, very unfortunate. As he had learned the hard way that he was the only one who could see these hyungs who came to play with him after school while he waiting for his own older brother to finish club activities. Let’s just say that seeing a peer from his class literally walked through Joonmyeon’s body in 3rd grade didn’t sit well with Kyungsoo’s young brain. The teasing died down after a while, but the nickname “Screaming Soo” stuck. He didn’t speak much since then.

Despite everything, Kyungsoo never changed schools. Not because he didn’t want to, but simply because he couldn’t. _They_ kept him there. He did try, several times over the years, but always failed miserably. Things always happened when he attempted to move schools. Things like the suddenly soaked Seoul school catalogue Kyungsoo was flipping through until it’s illegible to read at all, to a more hardcore incident like the headmaster suddenly having a heart attack right before signing Kyungsoo’s transfer document. The old man lived, and Kyungsoo stayed.

He didn’t talk about it to anyone; he didn’t talk about them to anyone, even to them themselves. He didn’t ask. He didn’t even want to know why or how he could see them. All he knew was that he’s stuck with them, now counting for a damn long 11 years of his school life. But yes, this was his last year in school. Kyungsoo would graduate from high school and heck yes no one could stop him this time. He even made a point to study extra hard and pay more attention in class. One more year, just one more year and he could finally break free.

Just thinking about it put Kyungsoo in an unusually good mood. A smirk crept up on his face as he finished a hard question on his Physics homework.

“Look at that evil smirk, he’s thinking about leaving us again.” Baekhyun snorts.

“No~ he’s thinking about becoming a teacher here and staying with us forever."

"Yixing-hyung, do you think he can be a teacher at all? Like, look at him, he's too short! The students will bully him in no time!" followed by Baekhyun’s high pitch laugh and an almost equally maniacal laughter from the other ghosts.

After 11 years Kyungsoo thought he would be immune to their verbal abuse. But no, of course not. Even then he still wanted to personally strangle each of them to death. Well, if only they weren’t already dead. Kyungsoo momentarily wondered if ghosts could die twice.

"But he can be a kindergarten teacher!"

"Tao, there is no kindergarten in this school."

"How sad. Is that why I haven't seen little ghosts around here?"

"Am I supposed to thank the heavens that after a hundred and three years you've stayed here long enough that you finally realized we don't have a kindergarten in this school?"

"Jongdae~" Tao whined.

"Jongdae _hyung_ for you!"

"But I was born earlier than you were!"

"But I died faster? Therefore I'm your senior in the afterworld."

Tao whined even more.

Kyungsoo tried his best not to roll his eyes, and decided it’s for everyone's sake that he ought to just ignore them like usual. He was about to start working on a new set of questions when Jongin came tumbling into the classroom. He crash-landed into Tao and received a scowl from the Chinese ghost.

"Watch your step, Nini!"

"Ah, sorry. I was just running." Jongin replied groggily.

It's stupid, Kyungsoo thought to himself, a lot of things about the ghosts were stupid. For one, the ghosts could literally walk through everything except through each other.

"But that's exactly why I like being a ghost." Luhan once told him years ago, clinging to poor Baozi, which Kyungsoo then learned soon after their first meeting, was not a thing, but a person, a ghost name Minseok. Arguably the only sane ghost Kyungsoo had ever encountered. Not that he could see other ghosts beside the nine of them. Curious, but really, he didn't want to think about it.

"I thought you were more into walking slow and all. Why were you running?" Baekhyun asked curiously.

"I saw the mafia dudes at the boy’s toilet,” Jongin settled himself beside Tao on the floor and rubbed his eyes, he must have just woken up after falling asleep somewhere. Kyungsoo wondered why the idea could cross his mind in the first place, considering that ghosts didn’t, and couldn’t actually sleep.

Jongin continued, "I went there to pee but somehow fell asleep,” Kyungsoo couldn't resist to roll his eyes this time, Jongin and his quirks. Ghosts definitely could neither pee nor sleep. “And when I woke up they were there with a new face." Jongin said again.

By the mention of new face, Kyungsoo stopped writing altogether to listen more to their conversation. Mafia dudes were not mafia gang members as Jongin would always call them. In fact they were Kyungsoo’s classmates during freshman year. They liked to pretend they own the school and were feared by the students. There hadn’t been any serious bullying incident that Kyungsoo knew of, but they were known for being especially mean to weak looking ones, or new students. So far Kyungsoo hadn’t crossed them and wouldn’t want to, to be honest.

"Yeah, the boy who transferred here this semester. Isn't he in Kyungsoo's class?"

Oh yes, Park Chanyeol. Kyungsoo remembered him. The lanky guy with funny accent from some rural town in South Jeolla province. He sat near Kyungsoo in class. Kyungsoo glanced to the said boy's table, a couple away to his left.

"He's part of them already?" Luhan asked, scandalized.

"Nah, they were beating him up."

"Oh, wow. That’s fast. Not even a year and he already got beaten up. Must be a pretty annoying guy. Well, well."

And it ticked Kyungsoo off.

They had always been like that. Exactly why Kyungsoo didn’t like the ghosts, not anymore. He didn’t know since when, but at one point he realized that these ghosts just didn't care at all about humans in general, humans other than Kyungsoo, who lately had started feeling like he's more of a ghost than a proper human being. Too used to ignoring and being ignored by fellow mortals. 

But no, Kyungsoo didn't like it at all. He's definitely not part of them, he's not like them. He's alive and he's a human. And as a decent human being, he should not let another innocent human being fall victim to bullying in that school.

Assuming thay Park Chanyeol was indeed innocent, at all.

"Kyungsoo?" Joonmyeon raised his eyebrows when Kyungsoo suddenly stood up, abandoning his half-finished homework problem. The unanswered question drew everyone's attention on him. Their eyes followed him as he slowly walked towards the door. "Kyungsoo?"

Kyungsoo still didn't give an answer, instead started running as soon as he stepped outside the classroom

"Where is he going? Oh, shit! Don’t tell me?!" Luhan panicked and quickly grabbed Minseok to run after Kyungsoo. The rest followed immediately on instinct. Jongin whining from far behind, “But I ran just now?” No one paid him any attention.

“Kyungsoo, you can’t fight! You’re too small!” They began to persuade him to stop whatever he's thinking of doing.

“Kyungsoo, listen to us and come back!”

“Baby, no!”

“Oh, hell! He's 18 already! Why can't we just let him be?!”

Luhan slapped Minseok's chest with his other free hand, “Minseok, what are you talking about?! How if he gets hurt? What if they beat him up?!”

Yixing's eyes flew open, “THEY CAN’T HURT KYUNGSOO GOD DAMN NO!”

To no one's surprise, Yixing actually managed to run faster than Kyungsoo himself did.

The entourage stopped abruptly when Kyungsoo stopped in front of the boys toilet. All of them could hear it clearly from the outside, the sound of sneakers meeting hard surfaces with strong blows. They must be kicking Park Chanyeol while he writhed on the floor. Kyungsoo shuddered at the thought.

“Whatever you’re thinking, Kyungsoo, stop! This is not your fight!" Baekhyun quickly went to stand between Kyungsoo and the door, staring with all seriousness he could muster upon his face to convince the human to drop it.

And apparently it worked, because then Kyungsoo took a step back. Giving himself time to think more clearly and weigh his options and their outcomes. He didn't want to admit it, but despite his sudden urge to act heroic and all, in the end he decided that Baekhyun was probably right. He's too small and too weak to fight for himself, let alone to save Park Chanyeol. Slightly feeling defeated, he settled to just sit outside the toilet, waiting for it to end. He supposed, if he couldn’t stop the fight, at least he could help Chanyeol nurse his wounds afterwards. The ghosts' eyes lingered on him, but no protest was uttered. 

About 10 minutes later, the sound of hard kicks died down and the three bullies came out snickering. One of them was trying to wipe off the blood from his sneakers using a handful of tissues while walking out.

“Disgusting. I especially hate these people.” Tao grunted when one walked through him.

The said boy suddenly felt eerie sense of cold, looking around in confusion, and almost got a mini heart attack when he found a wide-eyes Kyungsoo glaring up at him from the floor. He almost fell backwards before one of his friends caught him on time.

“Damnit, Do Kyungsoo!” He cursed.

“Hey, leave him alone. He’s Screaming Soo. He’ll deafen you if he screams. We've had enough fun for today, anyway.” The supposed leader of the three threw one last nasty look at Kyungsoo before walking away. Kyungsoo said nothing and remained stoic.

Tao groaned in frustration.

A murmur, “I’ll burn his hair one day,” could somehow be heard coming from Jongdae.

After they disappeared from sight, Kyungsoo didn’t waste any more time and marched inside. He immediately found Park Chanyeol sitting on the floor with bruises and bleeding lips. The boy tensed when he noticed Kyungsoo's presence, eyes sizing him up and down in apparent hostility. They stared at each other for quite a while, and when Chanyeol finally decided the other boy wasn't there to hurt him, he let out a loud sigh of relieved. Kyungsoo took it as a sign to make his move. Chanyeol only looked at him silently as Kyungsoo approached and carefully placed one of Chanyeol's limp arms across his shoulder, supporting most of Chanyeol’s weight on himself as he lifted Chanyeol up.

Chanyeol whimpered in protest. “But I’m heavy.”

“We’ll take it easy.” Kyungsoo assured him before they started taking careful steps to the school infirmary.

To be honest, they had never spoken to each other before despite being in the same class for almost two months since the beginning of senior year. Kyungsoo only knew him as the transfer student. And Chanyeol probably only knew Kyungsoo as the—

"Screaming Soo? Really?"

Kyungsoo's hand stopped mid-air. Muffled chuckles only he could hear filled the otherwise quiet room.

"No." Kyungsoo replied in a flat tone after a while, patting a cotton bud soaked in antiseptic with unnecessary extra force on Chanyeol's lips, causing the much taller boy to hiss. The school doctor had left early, leaving Kyungsoo to tend for Chanyeol by himself.

"Interesting," Sehun leaned in to study Chanyeol's face. "I like this new face already."

Kyungsoo pretended he didn’t hear that.

"Sorry!" Chanyeol offered quickly, "And thank you for helping me."

Kyungsoo only nodded.

Seemingly not satisfied with the response he got from Kyungsoo, Chanyeol launched in yet another attempt to mend the awkward situation, “My mother was a nurse when she was younger,”

Kyungsoo looked up. Slightly confused as why he was suddenly given such a random and not to mention, personal information by a classmate he barely knew.

“She used to nurse my wounds when I fell down from playing tags with my friends. You are as good as she was.” Chanyeol tried to end it with a shy smile.

Hate to admit, but Kyungsoo hadn’t found himself on the receiving end of compliments often enough to know what to say in such a situation. All he could offer Chanyeol was a quiet nod.

“I’m done.” Kyungsoo said as he placed a band-aid to Chanyeol’s last open wounds. “You should rub analgesics to your bruises later,” Kyungsoo pointed at Chanyeol’s arms and received a nod from the boy. "And maybe you should go to the hospital and have your body checked for broken ribs too."

Chanyeol visibly flinched and shook his head rapidly, "Ah no no no, I'm fine. I'm fit as new! Trust me!”

Kyungsoo was about to tell Chanyeol that he looked anything but _fit as new_ , except he was too stunned at the moment.

Chanyeol's rows of perfectly aligned pearly white teeth greeted Kyungsoo as the taller’s face broke into a huge smile, right eye twitching uncontrollably. Kyungsoo half smiled half cringed and wondered if he should tell Chanyeol to have his eye nerves checked too.

"Oh my god! New face has a creepy smile!" Baekhyun exclaimed excitedly in an unnecessarily loud voice as the rest of the group erupted into laughter.

Kyungsoo sighed very, very deeply. The ghosts were easily amused, just like that.

“How-?”

“What?”

The ghosts still haven’t stopped laughing, and clapping and just generally being really noisy for Kyungsoo to hear the rest of Chanyeol’s question at all. He tried throwing them glares but the otherworldly fellows were too busy to notice him.

“How do you-?”  
  
“HA?”  
  
“Eh?”  
  
“SAY IT AGAIN!” Kyungsoo literally shouted while cupping both ears with his palms.

Chanyeol looked at him completely baffled. The room was empty save for the two of them, and it was utterly quiet that even if Kyungsoo were to whisper to him, Chanyeol could surely hear him clearly. But he tried asking again anyway, “HOW DO YOU KNOW I WAS AT THE BOY’S TOILET?”

Kyungsoo froze.

The ghosts froze.

“Lie! Lie! Lie to him, Kyungsoo, just lie! Tell him you were just passing by. Kyungsoo! Just tell him that!” The rest nodded to Jongdae’s panic urge.

Kyungsoo frowned. "No," he said before getting up and leaving Chanyeol behind, who was then more confused than ever.

Kyungsoo paced to his class and packed his books, getting ready to go home. He completely ignored the annoying questions being rapidly thrown at him by the ghosts as to why he decided not to answer Chanyeol.

They followed him all the way to the gate, continuously nagging.

"But you promised you won't leave until six!" Tao stomped his feet in protest.

"Not today," Kyungsoo told him coldly, stepping outside the school area, where the ghosts could no longer follow and pester him.

"That's,” Joonmyeon started, “That’s the first sentence he said to us today," he thoughtfully pointed out as they watched Kyungsoo walking farther and farther away from the school.

"Nawh," Luhan cooed.

And as if on cue, they all broke into similar cooing, "Naaaawh,"

Ghosts were simple, just like that.

Or at least the nine of them were.

 

 

※

 

 

To Kyungsoo's resentment, ever since then, Chanyeol had seemingly taken interest on him as he was seen gathering information on the mysterious Do Kyungsoo, three days and counting. In addition to staring intensely at him in class. And as if Kyungsoo wasn't aware and bothered enough by it, the ghosts just had to rub it on his face by blatantly discussing Chanyeol's escapades in front of him.

According to the ghosts, the transfer student apparently had been hopping from class to class during lunch break to ask around for information, or gossips, as Kyungsoo called it. Feeling that his privacy was being violated beyond his control, Kyungsoo simply found Chanyeol rude. While Luhan thought the new face was rather fascinating. It had been years since the last time anyone had ever showed any interest in their little Kyungsoo. The ghosts partially blamed themselves for that, being the main cause of almost everyone in that school being scared of crossing path with him at all. Kyungsoo completely blamed them.

When Chanyeol finally came up to Kyungsoo after school in an empty classroom exactly a week after the incident, it wasn't at all unexpected. But it was what he asked Kyungsoo that took him, and the ghosts, by surprise.

“So you see spirits?”

A beat.

“Do Kyungsoo, so you see spirits?”

Chanyeol had the tendency to say and ask things he didn’t know how to respond to, Kyungsoo noticed. To Chanyeol’s credit, that was the very first time anyone ever had the courage to ask Kyungsoo about it point blank.

Not knowing what to reply, Kyungsoo turned to scan his surroundings. Eyes moving carefully, and as subtly as possible, examining the ghosts’ facial expressions one by one. They were conflicted, he knew. They always showed him the same guilty smile when they couldn’t decide between wanting Kyungsoo to save himself from the situation or wanting him to acknowledge their existence.

Kyungsoo dropped his eyes and sighed, focusing back on his half-done Math homework. “What do you want from me, Park Chanyeol? If you’re looking for more ridiculous stories, sorry I don’t have them. You should find it somewhere else,” he said apathetically.

Chanyeol took a step closer to where Kyungsoo was sitting, trying to claim back Kyungsoo's attention before telling him calmly, “I want to know more about the spirits.”

Kyungsoo looked up at him curiously, “And you’re asking me because?”

“My sister saw them too.”

“You should try asking her instead then.”

“I can’t. She left.”

“Then go find her.”

“I can’t. She has left.” Chanyeol repeated.

It took a moment for Kyungsoo to finally realize what Chanyeol had meant by his sister leaving. “I’m sorry to hear that,” changing his tone to a more earnest one, or so he hoped.

Chanyeol shook his head with a reserved smile, “Don’t be. She’s been sick for a long time. She’s resting well now.”

Kyungsoo nodded.

“Do you really see them?” Chanyeol asked again.

“What good does it do for you to know if I can see them or not?”

“So I can ask how it feels?”

“You knew she could see them, she must have told you how it felt already. And I’m not your sister, I can’t tell you how it felt for her.”

“I didn’t believe her back then.”

“And you will believe me now?”

“I want to believe her, and you, that the two of you are not crazy like what people say.”

“But I don’t need you to believe me.”

“But I need me to believe her.”

Kyungsoo stared at Chanyeol for a long time, trying to decide if it was just a trap. If Chanyeol was just lying about his sister to coax him into telling about the ghosts and used it against him later to spread more rumors. More than anything, that’s exactly what Kyungsoo would want to avoid at all cost.

Speaking of the ghosts, they had been unusually quiet since Chanyeol arrive.

“I’m sorry I can’t help. You should leave. I still have homework to do.”

Even if Kyungsoo saw the disappointed look apparent on Chanyeol’s face, he decided to ignore it, picking up where he had left off on his homework instead.

The room fell back into silence for a while, until the sound of Chanyeol’s almost quiet footsteps could be heard leaving the classroom.

The boy, however, briefly stopped to tell Kyungsoo, “I will wait.” To which Kyungsoo was about to reply, _please don’t_ , but couldn’t because Chanyeol had left the classroom by then.

“You know,” Yixing started, “You can just tell him about us. You heard him, he wants to believe you.”

“But I don’t want to,” Kyungsoo replied without looking up from his homework.

Not letting the opportunity escape, Jongdae jumped right away to tease him, “Do you mean because you want to keep us just for yourself?”

“Please go die. Even if you’re already dead, please die again.” Kyungsoo told Jongdae with a straight face, making the ghost pout, “You’re a mean human.”

“Tell me something I don’t already know.”

And with that the ghosts started laughing and resuming whatever they were doing before Chanyeol arrived.

How carefree, Kyungsoo thought to himself.

 

 

※

 

 

Kyungsoo came to school the very next day with everyone staring at him and whispering to each other behind his back. He wondered what had happened for him to receive such treatments. Usually they would just ignore him and his existence. The sudden influx of attention made him uneasy.

“The three mafia dudes got suspended for a week,” an unusually serious Jongin told Kyungsoo first thing that morning when he reached his seat. Beside him stood a worried looking Joonmyeon, glancing around warily every now and then.

Jongin continued, “The headmaster received a video footage on a CD, of them beating up new face. And everyone thought it was you, since you're the only one who always stays back after school. And mafia dudes thought it was you too. They practically saw you at the boy’s toilet.”

Kyungsoo’s face turned sour upon hearing the news.

“They might try to do something funny to you. We don’t want to take any chances. We’ll take turns to accompany you today. Jongin will start first.”

Before Kyungsoo could protest, Joonmyeon left him with Jongin already sitting cross-legged on the floor beside his seat.

He really didn’t think he needed the protection, but he couldn’t tell Jongin to go away either. The class was already filled with students and he couldn’t risk being caught talking to himself again. It wasn’t worth the effort. Jongin wouldn't give up that easily anyway. Kyungsoo decided to leave him be.

After Jongin, came Tao, then Sehun, then Minseok with Luhan during lunch time. Joonmyeon was already there in his class before the next period started. Then Jongdae and Baekhyun, each taking several short turns after each other because they just couldn’t sit still during lessons. Yixing was the last one to accompany Kyungsoo to the library after he finished his classes to return several borrowed books.

“Nothing happened today though,” Kyungsoo said, almost to himself, as they walked through the aisles.

“Nothing that you know of, happened today.” Yixing corrected him.

“Things happened?”

“Only things that you don’t need to know.”

“You don’t want to tell me.”

“I don’t need to tell you.”

Kyungsoo huffed. But Yixing thought it was for the best. They didn’t think Kyungsoo would take it lightly if he knew how many school delinquents had tried to snatch him during the day when he wasn’t looking. Yixing, however, wondered if he should tell Kyungsoo that Chanyeol was watching ovet him the whole day too that day, but in the end decided against it. They had yet to determine whether new face was a friend or enemy.

Feeling suffocated having the ghosts surrounding him all the time, even in the toilet, Kyungsoo wanted to leave the school early that day without doing his homework at school like usual. But the ghosts were totally not letting him leave that easily.

"Have your brother to pick you up today!"

"My brother is in the army."

"Uh, have the school security to take you home then!"

"I'm not a kid anymore."

"Have the cops escort you home!"

"Don't be ridiculous!"

"Kyungsoo~~" and they whined and whined to him all the way to the school gate.

"I'll be fine. I'll go home safely. Don't worry." Kyungsoo tried to convince them once again before waving goodbye.

But fate was totally playing cliché tricks on him. As soon as Kyungsoo walked a few meters off the school grounds, the three school bullies who were supposedly on suspension and their friends Kyungsoo recognized as last year's drop-outs surrounded him in circle.

"We finally got you, Do Kyungsoo." The leader smirked at him.

Fear suddenly overwhelmed Kyungsoo. His mind went blank and unresponsive to the panicked screams coming from the ghosts telling him to run away.

"Apparently it's hard to have a talk with you. My boys told me you're untouchable inside the school. I wonder why." He wrapped Kyungsoo’s shoulder with an arm, put him on a headlock and claps the boy’s mouth with his palm while at it. "But don't tell me here, let's talk somewhere private. And don’t you dare scream or else."

Kyungsoo was about to get dragged away when a tree inside the school near the gate suddenly burst into flames before turning into ashes almost too quickly. They were stunned, but the leader knew better.

"So the thing about you and the school ghosts is true huh?" He leaned in to whisper, "The more reason to keep you off the school then." His words sent shivers down Kyungsoo’s spine.

"Sehun! Where is that fucking school security? Why did you come back without him?! Jongdae stop burning the fucking trees! It’s not helping!! Baekhyun! Tao! Fucking stop trying to break the barrier you're hurting yourselves!"

"Joonmyeon, calm down!”

“You don’t fucking tell me to calm down, Minseok! This fucking Kyungsoo! Why isn't he running away?! You retard! Go run!"

"Hyung! Stop hitting me! The school security is in the toilet getting diarrhea. Jongin is trying to get the teachers! Fuck hyung! Stop!”

“Fuck! Sehun fuck! Fuck that ahjussi! Fuck mafia dudes I'm going to kill them!!"

"Joonmyeon shut the fuckup! And let Sehun go! We need to think of something, we need to save Kyungsoo!”

"YOU FUCKING TELL ME HOW!"

Just as Joonmyeon was about to launch himself at Yixing, the ghosts felt something strong brushing through them from behind, so quickly that it pulled some of them forward.

“New face!” Baekhyun cheered upon seeing Chanyeol. The tall boy was standing just few meters away from Kyungsoo by then, panting.

"Stop!" Chanyeol shouted, almost squeaking. He flinched when all eyes snapped toward him, but planted his feet firm on the ground; he threw his shoulders back in determination.

“Right when I thought you’d had enough bruises, Park Chanyeol, I’m impressed.” One of the mafia dudes stepped forward, followed by obnoxious snickers from his gang.

“Let him go!” Chanyeol shouted again.

“And why should I listen to you?”

Chanyeol clearly didn’t know how to answer to that as he started fidgeting, almost losing all confidence he had painfully gathered before he launched himself after spotting Kyungsoo with the bullies. It’s a pity Chanyeol couldn’t hear the loud cheer the ghosts were making for him.

“Because I’m right here!” He tried to argue meekly, “If something happened to Do Kyungsoo they will know it’s you guys! I will tell them! So let him go!”

“Well, dear, how sweet of you! Are you going to tell on us beating him up just like how he told on us beating you? Is this how your pathetic friendship works with Do Kyungsoo?”

“He wasn’t the one who ratted you out! It wasn’t him!”

“Even though we saw him outside the toilet after we beaten the crap out of you, it wasn't him? Then tell me who recorded the beatings? The school ghost? Do you seriously think I’m that stupid?”

“It wasn’t him. It really wasn’t him! Please let him go!”

“You’re really getting to my nerves, Park! You want to join the party? Fine! Boys! Get him!”

Chanyeol was literally shaking in panic as two of the drop-outs marched towards him.

He had come to rescue Kyungsoo. There's no way he's turning his back now, Chanyeol told himself. He must and would succeed.

“Run, Kyungsoo-ssi, RUN!”

Chanyeol's scream seemed to snap Kyungsoo into reality. Seeing his classmate launched his giant body to block the attack, Kyungsoo finally collected enough courage to untangle himself from the headlock and tried to run away. The ghosts cheered in victory.

Sadly, 2 versus 7 was a no brainer, a dead end for the two.

“Useless humans,” Yixing cried out seeing the two boys getting beaten up on the ground. Although somehow, Chanyeol had heroically managed to reach out to Kyungsoo and covered the smaller with his body. He received most of the blows for the two of them.

Jongin appeared with teachers running behind him several minutes later. “I’m sorry I’m sorry it’s so hard to get them to see outside the window, I’m sorry, I’m really sorry.”

Minseok patted his back gently to calm the younger ghost, "It's okay, you did well."

Upon seeing a group of male teachers running towards them, the bullies quickly abandoned their two victims.

"I'm not done with you two!" The leader snarled at Kyungsoo and Chanyeol before running away with the rest.

"Hey! Are you okay? What happened?!"

Chanyeol couldn't help but smile in relief hearing the worried question from their P.E. teacher.

Kyungsoo looked at him slightly confused.

"It has stopped. We'll be fine now," Chanyeol said before collapsing onto him.

"Idiot." Kyungsoo let out a sigh, admittedly a relieved one.

Despite being thin, Chanyeol was 185cm tall, and thus especially heavy when unconscious. It took all four of the middle-aged teachers to carry him. Kyungsoo followed them closely from behind, walking alone. Although alone was arguable, having nine extremely worried and still panicked ghosts checking on him nonstop all the way to the infirmary.

Kyungsoo insisted that the school's doctor examined Chanyeol first before himself. When they opened Chanyeol’s shirt, he cringed seeing new bruises and cuts over the old ones Chanyeol received last week.

This fucking idiot, Kyungsoo cursed in his head.

"He's probably not as bad as we thought." Luhan said, looking over Chanyeol.

The wounded boy was lying unconscious on the bed next to Kyungsoo's, body mostly wrapped in bands.

They were left to themselves to rest after the doctor’s done treating their wounds.

Kyungsoo had asked the teachers not to tell their parents about the incident, he didn't want to create trouble on their last year in school. He put a white lie that Chanyeol would wish the same.

"What happen to Joonmyeon hyung?" Kyungsoo noticed the said hyung sitting all gloomy alone at a corner far away from them.

"Nah, just recovering," Baekhyun supplied.

"It was interesting to see him in a state of panic though," Jongdae grinned as they all stared at Joonmyeon, "He said the word fuck enough times for the whole year today."

The ghosts giggled while Kyungsoo could only offer Joonmyeon an apologetic smile. For once he did feel bad for being the cause of Joonmyeon's self-loath.

Almost an hour later, Chanyeol finally regained back his consciousness. His first reaction was to abruptly sit up and searched for Kyungsoo in panic.

"I'm here, I'm here, I'm fine." Kyungsoo reached for Chanyeol’s arm without leaving his bed.

"Oh, sorry. I'm just-"

"It's okay. Just lie down. You're still not well."

Chanyeol grunted as he slowly lied back down, feeling throbbing pain all over his body.

They didn’t say anything for a while. But Minseok kept bugging Kyungsoo, "He helped you out, you know what to say." The other ghosts aggressively nodded in agreement.

"I thought you guys didn't like him," Kyungsoo whispered.

And suddenly the ghosts stared at him, aghast.

Jongdae tried to refute, "Who says we don't like him! We do like new face! It's _you_ who don't like him. But he still saved you! The guy whom _you_ don’t like."

"Me?! I never said I didn't like him! Plus I never asked him to save me!"

"Of course! If only you're smart enough to run away the moment we told you to!"

"I-"

"Uh, Kyungsoo-ssi?"

Cut off by Chanyeol’s voice, Kyungsoo froze. Realizing he had unknowingly said all that out loud. He totally forgot that Chanyeol was no longer unconscious despite lying on the bed with his eyes closed just a moment ago. He mentally facepalmed and totally blamed Jongdae for that.

"Thank you!" Kyungsoo tried to divert Chanyeol's attention, hoping he was still dizzy enough to comprehend Kyungsoo's slip of tongue with the ghosts earlier.

"No, it's okay, don't mention it." Chanyeol responded with a weak smile. It’s one of his non-creepy smiles, Kyungsoo noted. The taller even admittedly had cute dimple showing on his right cheek when he smiled normally.

"You don't have to do that, you know, taking the kicks for me. Your bruises from last week haven't fully healed yet, and it's only getting worse. I'm sure you have broken ribs now. I swear Park Chanyeol you're an idiot!"

Chanyeol pouted, "But that’s not how you thank someone. You were supposed to kiss me and we'll live happily ever after."

Kyungsoo had to actually cover his ears in fear of losing his hearing ability from the obnoxious laughing fits the ghosts were throwing. Baekhyun and Jongdae made a point to especially laugh mockingly in front of his face.

"I knew I liked him," Sehun commented, face irritatingly plastered with a proud smile.

"I hate you," Kyungsoo grunted, aiming it to everyone visible and invisible in that room.

"Sorry," Chanyeol said sheepishly, "It's a habit of mine. I always do that every time I get scolded. You know, to lighten the mood."

"You are making it heavier to be honest."

Chanyeol only smiled shyly to that.

"But thank you, really," Kyungsoo told him again. "It was the first time anyone ever stood up for me. I'm in debt to you."

Chanyeol didn’t reply. Instead, taking a long and thoughtful stare at Kyungsoo before asking with a serious tone, "Then, will you trust me now? And share with me about the spirits?"

The ghosts turned quiet.

“Kyungsoo,” Yixing called out for him with a reassuring smile, "It's really okay with us."

Kyungsoo sighed in defeat.

"They said it's okay with them. So I guess it should be okay with me too."

Chanyeol brightened almost instantly. His face broke into that creepy eye-twitching grin again. Luhan would comment that it's endearing, but really it’s just too creepy for Kyungsoo to handle at the moment.

Somehow, Kyungsoo regretted it already.


	2. Chapter 2

In exchange for Kyungsoo’s willingness to share about the ghosts, Chanyeol agreed to have himself checked for broken ribs at a nearby hospital.

“I hate you,” Kyungsoo told him deadpan while waiting for Chanyeol’s turn with the doctor.

The ghosts had somehow managed to guilty trip him into accompanying Chanyeol after school, abandoning his literature homework just assigned that day and due in two days.

And thus, a very bitter Kyungsoo.

“Don’t you have other friends to take you to the hospital? I’m a very busy student if you haven’t noticed. I have a lot of homework to do!”

Chanyeol rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, “Sorry, and thank you. And don’t worry! I can help you with homework. I’ve finished mine already.”

Kyungsoo shot him an incredulous look, “Even the literature homework from today? All the required 10 pages?”

“Yeah, I was waiting for you to come back from the headmaster’s office and had nothing to do.”

“But I only left for like 15 minutes? Are you a freaking genius or what?”

“Sort of?”

Kyungsoo suddenly felt the urge to slap the grin away from Chanyeol’s face.

“Nah. I just study a lot, I guess.” Chanyeol leaned back into the hospital chair. “I had a lot of free time while waiting for my sister for chemotherapy at the hospital. I had to accompany her on most days because our parents were always busy. After she left, it just became a habit of mine. You know, studying.”

“I never heard anyone ever mention studying as a habit.”

“Me neither,” Chanyeol laughed.

Kyungsoo snorted.

“So the thing about you sister is true?”

Chanyeol tilted his head sideways to look at Kyungsoo, “You thought I was lying?”

“If you were, you won't be the first one. People lied to me about a lot of things. Just to get me to talk so they can prove that I’m indeed a lunatic,” Kyungsoo rubbed his right hand knuckles, remembering the punch he made on his bedroom floor a couple years back.

He wasn’t brave enough to direct it to the person responsible for his anger at that time.

“About the spirits?”

“Don’t call them spirits. They’re ghosts.”

“What’s the difference?”

“Because spirits are cool, unlike, ... them.”

“They’re not? Do they bother you?”

“Bother is an understatement.”

“So they harm you?”

Kyungsoo shook his head, as much as he hated to admit it, “They.. protect me.”

“They do?! Are they here? Right now? With us?”

“The school ghosts? No. There’s a reason why they’re called the school ghosts. They stay there. They can’t leave. Not even outside the gate.”

“Did you ask why?”

“Nope.”

“Aren’t you curious?”

Kyungsoo frowned, voice raising in a angry tone, “Why are you interrogating me?!”

Chanyeol immediately frowned back, “But you agreed to tell me about the ghosts!”

“Oh! Yeah! I forgot. Sorry about that," Kyungsoo pinched the bridge of his nose. He’s an airhead just like that sometimes.

Chanyeol beamed at him nevertheless, “You’re so cute!” but quickly cowered in regret as Kyungsoo shot him a death glare.

“I’m not cute so take it back or I will break your neck.”

Chanyeol nodded timidly.

As it turned out, despite being badly beaten, not a single bone on Chanyeol’s body was broken.

“I told you I’m good as new!” Chanyeol chirped energetically as they walk out of the doctor’s office.

“Good for you.” Kyungsoo responded in flat tone.

“So?”

“So?”

“My bones are intact! So when are you going to tell me more about the ghosts? And maybe introduce them to me?”

Receiving no answer, Chanyeol tugged Kyungsoo’s shirt to get his attention, but the smaller boy continued to walk anyway.

“But you promised me.”

Only after he heard the sad pout in Chanyeol’s voice did Kyungsoo finally give in.

“Tomorrow. After school. Bring your literature homework.”

Chanyeol grinned from ear to ear, “I will.”

The sky was already dark by the time they left the hospital. Chanyeol offered to walk Kyungsoo home but was promptly turned down even before finishing his sentence.

No amount of whining could change Kyungsoo’s decision this time, so Chanyeol had to sadly bid him goodbye at the bus stop.

Kyungsoo couldn’t help but wonder why his human acquaintance had to be as clingy as his ghost ones.

 

 

※

 

 

Following the attack on Kyungsoo and Chanyeol, the school had decided to extend the suspension period to two weeks for the three school bullies, in addition to giving them a warning notice that if they get caught beating the two again, or any students at all, they would be expelled from the school without further consideration.

The news made Kyungsoo both happy and wary. They still hadn’t found out who recorded the beatings on Chanyeol so it meant Kyungsoo was still their main person of interest. Which also meant the bullies might go after him again, in places no one could see or save him.

For the first time in his life Kyungsoo realized the disadvantages of not having human friends, at all.

 _‘At least your dull high school life is getting interesting now’_ , His older brother wrote back from his military post in Jeju Island.

After getting a huge injury on his left foot while playing soccer for the South Korean national team, he was pardoned from active soldier duty, and was assigned as a public officer in charge of tourism in Jeju Island. It’s almost as if he’s having a two-year long vacation there. And unlike normal soldiers, he got to send electronic mails instead of the paper ones, so Kyungsoo’s email was always replied almost instantly. It was his job to send out emails after all. Kyungsoo named him ‘Lucky Bastard’ in his phone contacts.

After the unnecessarily long story about how two celebrities got caught having an affair in one of the resorts there last week, the email from his brother ended with a note, _‘Send my regards to your giant friend. Tell him, unlike you, I don’t think he’s an idiot or useless at all.’_

Kyungsoo sighs to that, “He’s not my friend though.”

“How about trying to make him your friend then?” Minseok peered at Kyungsoo’s phone from behind, positioning his chin on the boy’s narrow shoulder without actually placing it there. Minseok liked doing it, so Kyungsoo let him.

“It’s not necessary.” Kyungsoo replied apathetically while locking his phone.

“We both know that’s not right.”

“Maybe next time.”

“And when is that exactly? When you get beaten up again?”

Kyungsoo didn’t answer.

“I don’t think you will get someone else readily willing to get themselves beaten in your place though.” Minseok told him again.

“Then isn’t that exactly why I shouldn’t befriend him? I don’t want to see someone else die because of me.”

“You know he won’t die so easily if his time hasn’t come yet. And despite putting up a tough front, we all know how soft and weak you are on the inside.”

Kyungsoo scowled at Minseok, face inches away from each other.

“You should consider it. You’re leaving soon anyway and we can’t stop you this time. Which also means we can’t protect you anymore.”

“I don’t need protection!”

“But you can’t live by yourself forever.”

“For one, I’m not. I have my family.”

“But did you tell your family about mafia dudes? Or about your trouble socializing in school?”

Kyungsoo furrowed his eyebrows even further, “You know that it was you guys who kept me from making human friends all these years, right?”

“You’re right, it's our fault. We are selfish, it hurts to admit. But turned out, it hurts more to see you getting beaten while we could only watch helplessly.”

“You sound too human for a ghost.”

Minseok smiled, “I was a human too once, a long time ago.”

Kyungsoo had no reply to that, and was sort of glad Minseok didn’t pursue further on the topic.

It had been a good half an hour and Kyungsoo was still waiting for Chanyeol to come, having only Minseok to accompany him.

Chanyeol disappeared right after the last bell rang without telling him anything. Kyungsoo started to wonder if that weird classmate of his was bailing on him, putting him in a bad mood immediately. This whole thing about wanting to know about the ghosts was Chanyeol’s request in the first place, yet he made Kyungsoo wait for him instead. Rude.

At the same time, Kyungsoo was also wondering where the rest of the ghosts were. It’s really out of the ordinary for Luhan to leave Minseok alone, considering how clingy the pink haired ghost was to the later. Kyungsoo contemplated asking Minseok but decided against it, in fear of giving him the opportunity to revive their previous talk. Kyungsoo preferred not to.

The clock showed 5 p.m. in the afternoon. It had been almost an hour and Kyungsoo decided he couldn’t wait anymore.

“Maybe not today. Maybe never.” Kyungsoo murmured infuriatedly to himself while zipping his bag. He could feel Minseok mentally patting him on the back.

As fate would have it however, Kyungsoo bumped into Chanyeol right at the classroom door.

Noisy and excited Luhan, Tao, Yixing, and Baekhyun could be seen following right behind Chanyeol, with a soccer ball. Without acknowledging Kyungsoo, the ghosts walked directly towards Minseok.

"And of course you have to come now," Kyungsoo snapped at Chanyeol sarcastically.

"Sorry. It took longer than I thought. I'm really sorry." Chanyeol did look like he's really sorry. Kyungsoo almost didn’t have the heart to stay mad. Chanyeol rubbed his hands together nervously. Kyungsoo caught a trace of dark ashes there.

Kyungsoo took a deep breath, trying to control his tone. "So where have you been? And you better have a good answer because you made me wait for an hour here."

Chanyeol looked hesitant to offer an explanation. But Kyungsoo got distracted by an overly excited Jongdae came bouncing towards them before he could press him for an answer.

"Kyungsoo, Kyungsoo! Kyungsoo, new face is so cute! He burned food and stuff for us! It’s been forever since anyone ever gave us anything! I almost thought people forgot about that tradition already!”

An equally excited Joonmyeon accompanied by Sehun and Jongin appeared behind Jongdae, with tteokbokki in their hands.

Which was really curious, Kyungsoo finally realized. As far Kyungsoo knew, ghosts couldn’t touch, let alone carry anything in their hands. And yet they were holding a soccer ball, and a seemingly freshly cooked tteokbokki even.

And as if things were not weird enough, Kyungsoo watched as Sehun briefly stopped beside Chanyeol and looked up at the tall human with the most adoring expression Kyungsoo had ever seen coming from the usually emotionless ghost.

"Seriously, tell me what did you do?" Kyungsoo looked half curious half pissed by then.

"Uh, I read that you ought to make peace offerings to the spirits, I mean ghosts, before attempting any communication so I, uh, burned some food while praying for them, and there's this Chinese article about sending the ghosts stuff by making it from papers and burning it? But I didn’t know what to make so, yeah, I just took my unused soccer ball and burned it instead. I suck at soccer anyway, with my long legs and all. Does it, uh, work?"

Kyungsoo turned his attention back to the ghosts. Joonmyeon shot him a thumbs up with tteokbokki sauce all over his grinning face, Baekhyun and Jongdae immediately joined him with equally pleased smiles. Even the usually calm Minseok looked jumpy and excited when Luhan handed him the soccer ball.

Kyungsoo facepalmed.

"Uh, Kyungsoo-ssi?" Chanyeol asked nervously.

Kyungsoo sighed without looking back at Chanyeol. He walked towards his table. "They love it, a lot. Now sit down so we can get this over quickly."

Chanyeol lightened up in a beat.

 

 

※

 

 

Kyungsoo stared intensely at Chanyeol from across the table. Arms folded.

"Before we do this, you are fully aware that it’s possible I'm just a plain mad person who tricks you into believing that I can actually see ghosts, right?"

Chanyeol nodded.

"And that everything I'm going to tell you about the ghosts could just be my imagination."

Chanyeol nodded again.

"And that everything that might happen or be said today will stay only between us. And you will carry it to your death-bed."

Chanyeol nodded slowly, slightly frightened, eyes wide.

"You're scaring him!" scolded Baekhyun.

"But this is important! Who knows what he might do with the information he obtains today!"

"You are being paranoid!"

"Shut up, Baek!"

Baekhyun clinged to Jongdae, whimpering, "He's really mean."

"Are you, hmn, talking to them?" Chanyeol looked around curiously. Unknown to him the ghosts were standing just an arm’s reach away from him and Kyungsoo.

"Yeah. Sorry about that. So, what do you want to know?" Kyungsoo asked expectantly.

Chanyeol nervously took out a piece of paper from his pocket, "I thought about it last night," and started reading it to himself. "Well, maybe, let’s start with the basics. Are they transparent? You know, like, on tv shows.”

Kyungsoo tried not to laugh. “No, they look normal to me, like normal human being. Just, they can walk through everything, even through you and me.”

Chanyeol eyes widen on that. Kyungsoo quickly waved him off, “But no, don’t worry. As far as I know they don’t like walking through people. The nonexistent contact apparently makes them anxious.”

Chanyeol vaguely feels relieved.

“Then, how about when you first start seeing them? Was it just out of the blue?"

Kyungsoo pondered a bit. "Yeah, I think so. I remember seeing Luhan first, then the rest of them soon after that. By the way Luhan is a Chinese ghost with a pink hair," Kyungsoo pointed up at Luhan.

Chanyeol looked in the general location Kyungsoo’s pointing towards.

Luhan waved at Chanyeol excitedly.

Feeling uncomfortable for not being able to locate Luhan, Chanyeol decided to just continue with his list of questions, "Do you, see any other ghosts, I mean outside the school?"

"No."

"No? Oh." Chanyeol’s surprised expression told Kyungsoo there’s something about it.

"Why? What happened?" He tried asking.

"Ah, yeah. Well, you see, my sister, she was just like you. She only saw ghosts at the hospital, that one hospital she went to when she was younger."

Kyungsoo nodded in understanding, "It must have been a scary experience for her."

"It was. she told me it was. Was it scary for you?

Kyungsoo glared at the ghosts, they smiled sheepishly at him.

"They bestowed me the nickname Screaming Soo, didn't they."

Chanyeol broke into a quick laugh but didn’t comment on that remark.

"Did you, tell anyone about this? Like, to your family?" Chanyeol continued.

"I think my older brother knew. But, no. I never told anyone.” Because Kyungsoo hated talking about it. “But really, do you think they would believe me if I told them? Things about me talking to myself are already spreading like wildfire anyway. I’m an established weirdo. Blaming it to the ghosts only adding fuel to the fire. Didn’t you tell me your sister told you too? You didn’t believe her back then, did you?”

Kyungsoo didn’t mean it to sound so scornful, but it seemed so to Chanyeol.

"Yeah. I still feel really bad about it now when I think about it."

Chanyeol dropped his head. Kyungsoo felt slightly responsible.

"Hey, don’t be. She would understand. Trust me. Anyway it's just the same, I think. Telling or not telling. The moment we saw something we didn't choose to see, we lost grasp of what’s normal anymore. it only got worse from then onwards. I told you before, right, it doesn't matter if you believe me or not. It won't change anything."

"But at least you'll have someone to confide in!" Chanyeol found himself arguing.

"Why are we talking about me?" Kyungsoo protested. "You are here to know about the ghosts! Stop asking things about me!"

Chanyeol shrugged in defeat, "Sorry. I just thought I wanted to know about your experience first. You know, to compare it with what my sister had told me."

"Chanyeol-ssi. If she really told you she could see them, you should believe her. It's not easy to open up to someone, especially people close like family members. You should at least give her credit for that."

Chanyeol nodded meekly, trying to focus back at the list he had written down. "Can I continue with my list?”  
“Go ahead.”

“So, I read that only spirits with unsettled matters linger in this world. Can you, ask the ghosts about that?"

Yixing supplied the answer to that, "I'm not sure with other ghosts out there but we're not like that. Like me and Tao, we came here more than a hundred years ago from China as child slaves. It wasn't fancy but our master actually treated us really well. He even sent us to this school to study. It was a pity that we both died from a bad influenza. But we don't have any resentment towards the world." And Kyungsoo told Chanyeol exactly that, although not word for word.

"Every one of them?"

The ghosts nodded, Kyungsoo answered, "Yeah, pretty much."

"They’ve been here for more than a hundred years? Really?"

"Apparently yes."

“Do they age? Doe ghosts age? Do they have wrinkles?”

The question came with a genuinely curious looking Chanyeol, that actually amused Kyungsoo even more. He was serious about it.

“No, they don’t,” Kyungsoo tried to answer calmly. “They look exactly like us, in their teen years. They died as teenagers and had stayed that way.”

Chanyeol had a hard time believing it. Eyebrows knitted together while throwing a suspicious stare at Kyungsoo. This boy’s for real, Kyungsoo rolled his eyes.

"Even though being the youngest, Sehun died the first among us though," Jongdae helpfully pointed out, receiving a yelp of protest from the said ghost. "He died in, hmn, 1847? Yeah, that long ago. He sailed to Europe when he was young and somehow got a hair perm there from some maniac scientist. It ruined his hair instead."

Sehun has then run to Jongdae and started choking him while the others laugh.

"That explains his disastrous noodle hair," Kyungsoo nodded.

Sehun let out a frustrated cry. The table nearby trembled, shocking Chanyeol.

"What? What happened? What hair?" He asked, scared.

"Don't tell him about my hair!!" Sehun screamed in panic.

"I won't. Don't worry,” Kyungsoo assured him. “I’ll keep that later for blackmailing material."

"You evil human!!"

Kyungsoo smiled wickedly before turning to Chanyeol, "The oldest has been a ghost since 1847, but was actually the one to die the youngest among them. His name is Sehun and he actually really likes you."

Sehun wailed in embarrassment.

Chanyeol was unsure whether to be happy or not having a ghost liking him.

Kyungsoo took joy in their pain.

"Wait! Speaking of hair, didn’t you mention one of the ghosts had pink hair? But they’ve been ghosts for more than a hundred years, right? Wasn’t hair bleach basically nonexistent back then?"

Kyungsoo raised an eyebrow, he’d never thought about it until Chanyeol asked. It’s indeed curious. He looked up at Luhan inquiringly.

"He’s so random!” Luhan groaned. “Do we really need to discuss this right now?!"

"If you must know, young master Luhan tried to dye his hair blue but unknowingly dipped his head in the pink bleach at his family’s fabric factory here in Seoul instead when he came to visit. And while at it, lost his balance and drowned," Jongdae stated matter of factly.

"But they all look the same!" Luhan cried in protest.

"I think we’re more concerned of the fact that you actually tried to bleach your hair _and_ drowned in it," Tao pats Luhan on the back, receiving another loud cry of "leave me alone!" from Luhan.

Nice, Kyungsoo mentally cheered. More materials for blackmailing. Chanyeol asked good questions sometimes. He’ll have thank Chanyeol later for bringing it up.

When Kyungsoo looked back at the said boy, however, Chanyeol hadn't even been paying any attention to him at all, seemingly deep into his own thought instead.

"So, ghosts can stay for that long. Even the ones who don't have unsettled matters," Chanyeol talked to himself. "But how about the ones with unsettled matter?” He turned to Kyungsoo, “Will they stick to one place like the ghosts in this school? And why can't they leave the school? Was this their last place?"

Kyungsoo waited for an answer from the ghosts. But they’re only looking at Minseok, who had been studying Chanyeol carefully. Kyungsoo wondered what happened.

"Most of us didn't even die here,” Minseok started. “You’ve heard about Luhan, right? But we’re just sort of drawn back to this place that holds most of our fond memories. I'm not sure why we can't leave the school either. There's a barrier we can't cross. And we really don't know much about other ghosts since we don't get to see them that often. Even if we did, we never asked."

Kyungsoo let Chanyeol know what Minseok had told him. But Minseok wasn’t finished speaking yet, "But I think I know what new face is really trying to find out."

Kyungsoo stared at him all confused.

"What is it? Did they say something else to you?" Chanyeol asked when Kyungsoo doesn’t say anything for some time.

"One of them, Minseok-hyung, said, that, hmn, what you were trying to figure out was if your sister lingered in this world too... as a ghost."

Chanyeol turned pale.

"I'm sorry if it's none of my business. But that's what he told me."

Chanyeol didn’t say anything for a long time, fiddling with the hem of his untucked shirt.

“Will you keep it a secret?”

“Why shouldn’t I?”

Chanyeol smiled appreciatively, “Thank you.”

“So, that’s the real reason behind all this? Not just because you wanted to believe about the ghost?”

Chanyeol nodded, “But partly yes. She first told me when we were small, after she came back from that hospital. She said she saw kids like her, but no one could see them like she did. To be honest it freaked me out, but my sister insisted. So I went to the hospital on her next visit. But of course I couldn’t see anything. She also told our parents, but they couldn’t see them either. They then moved her to a different hospital. We… we thought she was crazy.”

Kyungsoo stayed quiet. The ghosts eyed him worriedly, over the implication of Chanyeol’s words.

“Before she left last year she told me, that she wanted to go back at least once to that hospital to see them again. I was really sad and angry. We were the one who took care of her but it’s them that she would miss. We fought right before she passed away.”

“I don’t think that’s what she meant. I’m sure she missed you too.”

“I know. But I didn’t have the chance to say I’m sorry. And now, I miss her. I miss her a lot.”

“Hey, hey, don’t cry!”

Chanyeol blinked rapidly, “I’m not crying! Something got into my eyes!”

Kyungsoo was about to snort at his lame excuse, except he realized Jongdae was standing right beside Chanyeol and blowing air into his eyes.

Kyungsoo mouthed, _what the heck are you doing?_ , to which Jongdae excitedly answered, “His eyes are so big and cute I want to see them glisten!”

This is so anticlimactic, Kyungsoo mentally facepalmed.

“Sorry,” Chanyeol said after he finishes rubbing his eyes, “I swear I wasn’t crying.”

“It’s okay, don’t worry about it.”

“I don’t even cry talking about my sister, I’m the worst right,” Chanyeol laughed bitterly.

“I don’t think so, though. I don’t cry talking about my brother either.”

They both laughed lightly on that.

“Do you think,” a pause, “Do you think my sister is still in this world? Do you think she will go back to that hospital and linger there?”

Kyungsoo shook his head slowly, “I'm sorry, I don’t know.”

“Do you think, your ghost friends will know?”

On cue, the nine of them shook their heads. Kyungsoo sent Chanyeol an apologetic smile. The later sunk down to his seat.

“Maybe you should let her go?” Kyungsoo suggested and Chanyeol perked up with a frown.

Kyungsoo tried to explain further, “I mean, you said she had left peacefully. I think you should leave it at that. I’m sure she knows you didn’t mean to fight with her and has forgiven you even before she left.”

“How would you know? And why should I listen to you?” Suddenly Chanyeol became defensive, it took Kyungsoo by surprise.

“But you’re the one who came to me for advice!”

“But you’re not the one who lost a sibling!” Chanyeol argued back, now standing on his feet. He got offended easily, Kyungsoo realized. But so was Kyungsoo.

He closed his eyes, feeling all riled up, “Yes. But I’m also not the one who thought my sibling was crazy.”

The ghosts stood with mouths agape at that. They watched as Chanyeol packed his stuff and stormed out of the classroom.

“You really don’t know how to make friends, we are very concerned,” Joonmyeon shook his head dramatically.

Kyungsoo tried to ignore them.

 

 

※

 

 

Judging from the disappointed look the ghosts had displayed after Chanyeol left, Kyungsoo would have thought they were going to leave him alone to drown in a pool of regret or something. But no, of course not, they just had to do the opposite.

Sehun and Joonmyeon had seemingly made it their mission to annoy the hell out of Kyungsoo by following him around and criticizing every single thing he did with a “You could do it nicer.” or a “You can be nicer.”

Kyungsoo seriously didn’t think he should be nicer to the trash bin when throwing an empty milk box.

But what did it for Kyungsoo was Chanyeol. Chanyeol’s pout to be exact.

Turned out, Chanyeol was a teacher’s favorite and excelled in every single class. Despite only transferring in that year, Chanyeol was treated by the teachers almost like a model student, Kyungsoo begrudgingly noticed. He got called a whole lot to the front, to either work on questions on the blackboard, or to read his A+ grade assignments to the class. And Kyungsoo, having the worst luck ever, sat in the middle of the front row. Right where Chanyeol would stand, everytime, every single damn time. Pouting, before doing anything else he was supposed to do.

“The city of Nice, in France,” Chanyeol started, reading from his Geography essay assignment. He paused for a while, looked at Kyungsoo in the eyes, and repeated, with more emphasize, “The city of _Nice_ , in France,”

Kyungsoo wanted to cry. That's not even how Nice should be pronounced. Chanyeol was clearly just wanted to imprint the word on Kyungsoo's mind

 

 

※

 

 

“But I was nice!”

Kyungsoo groaned frustratedly, slamming his pen onto the table. He was so pissed he couldn’t even concentrate on working on his Chemistry homework that day after school.

“Yes, by mentioning that he thought his sister was crazy,” Joonmyeon helpfully supplied.

“I was nice _before_ that. But hey! At least I tried to be nice!”

“Of course, you _tried_ ”

“Is Joonmyeon-hyung always this annoying?” Kyungsoo turned to Jongin.

“Only when you’re annoying too.”

Kyungsoo gasped, “Jongin!! I thought at least you’re still on my side!”

When Jongin didn’t reply Kyungsoo mentally demoted him from his list of favorites.

“What do you want me to do then?” Kyungsoo asked them in defeat.

“Make up with Chanyeol.”

“But we’re not friends in the first place!”

“You’re only saying that to avoid taking responsibility!”

“What responsibility?!”

“That you’ve hurt his feelings!”

“I’m not responsible for his feelings! I’m not his boyfriend, we’re not even close!”

“He took beatings for you yet you’re still saying he’s not your boyfriend!”

“What? Wait! Wait! Hold on!”

“No!” Jongdae screamed and the rest of the ghosts threw equally cold looks at Kyungsoo.

“I’m not having this conversation. I’m going home,” Kyungsoo packed his unfinished homework.

The ghosts didn’t stop him like they usually would. Kyungsoo felt strangely sad.

 

 

※

 

 

It had been proven again and again, that fate was indeed harsh on him, Kyungsoo noted when the teacher paired him with Chanyeol for their global warming discussion the next day in class.

Sitting face to face with a boy who made a sullen expression at him was hard enough, let alone discussing such an out of fashion topic.

“Global warming is an important topic,” Chanyeol sulked quietly, but not quiet enough that Kyungsoo can’t hear him from across their shared table. “The ice is melting. Polar bears are suffering.”

“Are you Al Gore or what?”

“You can say nicer things than that, you know.”

 _Nice_. Right. He can do that. “I’m sorry.” Kyungsoo apologized, but received no response from Chanyeol.

They fell into an awkward silence for quite some time. Stubbornly waiting for each other to start a conversation.

Being the more mature one, Kyungsoo convinced himself, he tried to initiate. Randomly saying, “Polar bears are cute.”

Which unexpectedly received an excited reply from Chanyeol, “You think so too?”

Kyungsoo nodded. No, he didn’t think so, but whatever made Chanyeol happy, Kyungsoo told himself.

Chanyeol picked up the conversation and continued, “They’re losing their homes and it’s getting harder to find food. I feel so bad for them.”

“How do we help them though? Reducing carbon dioxide emissions will never be enough anyway.”

“One day, young one, one day we’ll find a way,” Chanyeol said wistfully, eyes looking far out the window.

Kyungsoo decided not to comment on being called _young one_ by an equally young peer.

“The Inuits hunt and eat polar bears on a daily basis, by the way.”

Chanyeol’s eyes bulged out hearing what Kyungsoo had just said.

But being oblivious to it, Kyungsoo continued, “You know if the ice area is getting smaller, maybe we should take more of the polar bears. You know, rather than letting them die from drowning, it’s better to make them into something more useful for humanity.”

Chanyeol furiously stood up, causing everyone including Kyungsoo looked up at him curiously.

“I told you! You can say nicer things than that!” He snapped before storming out of the classroom, ignoring the teacher’s shout of, “Park Chanyeol where are you going? The class hasn’t ended yet!”

Kyungsoo shrugged into his seat. Did he say something wrong? Again? Why did he always seem to upset Chanyeol while all he wanted to do was to share his point of view with him. “I give up,” Kyungsoo closed his textbook, thankful that his failed discussion on global warming with Chanyeol won’t cost him any deduced marks for this class.

 

 

※

 

 

“What is that?” Kyungsoo found Sehun and Tao crouching at a corner in the library one noon.

“A smartphone,” was all he got from Tao. Both of the ghosts were too busy playing with the thing on Tao’s hand. Apparently an iPhone, 5s model even, Kyungsoo pried.

“And how did you get it?”

“New face gave it to us,” Sehun said happily before shooting a sharp glance at Kyungsoo, “But don’t you dare tell Jongdae or Baekhyun. We found it first!”

Kyungsoo nodded, more interested in why in the first place Chanyeol burned more stuff for the ghosts. Was he attempting to make contact again? Without Kyungsoo? That’s ridiculous!

“Kyungsoo! Kyungsoo!”

Before Kyungsoo could inquire further about the supposed peace offering from Chanyeol, Jongin came running to him. Tao and Sehun looked at him at once, alerted. The usually calm Jongin was in panic, something bad must had happened.

“Jongin, what’s wrong?”

“Kyungsoo! New face! Mafia dudes!”

“Jongin, calm down!”

“Kyungsoo, this is not a time to calm down! Mafia dudes took new face to the old building!”

Within seconds, Kyungsoo started running towards the old school building. It had been left abandoned after they moved to the current new building last year. The school decided not to abolish it for memory’s sake. Kyungsoo was rather sure the ghosts had something to do with it.

The old building located quite far from the new one. No one went there anymore. And on most days it’s locked except when the janitors went in to do some cleaning every other month.

If the three school bullies really took Chanyeol there, no one would heard him even if he screamed for help. And how did they manage to get him anyway? Since when are they back in school? Damnit, Kyungsoo cursed, two weeks flew by so fast.

The news about Chanyeol being taken and Kyungsoo going after him got to the rest of the ghosts soon after Kyungsoo left. Most of them were already anxious to run for them to help them out, and this time they could, since it’s still inside the school area. But Minseok and Joonmyeon seemed to think otherwise.

“We always do everything we can to keep Kyungsoo safe. But at the same time we also keep him away from having a normal life.” Minseok told the group.

Joonmyeon continued, “Kyungsoo being able to see us doesn’t mean we automatically have the right over his life. It’s 11 years late to realize this but, I guess it’s better late than not at all.”

“Is it because of new face? Because there’s new face now?” Luhan asked disappointedly.

Minseok patted Luhan on the back, “Because there’s new face that now we can start letting Kyungsoo go, don’t you think?”

No one said anything afterwards, silently acknowledging with a heavy heart the truth in what Minseok and Joonmyeon had said.

For once they decided to let Kyungsoo handle the situation by himself.

 

 

※

 

 

Although being small had its own disadvantages, like taking a longer time to reach the old building, Kyungsoo found it convenient when he had to slip through glasses-less wooden windows to get inside since the main entrance was locked.

Carefully sweeping the dusty classes one by one, he finally located the one with Chanyeol and the bullies inside.

Kyungsoo found himself standing just outside the door, vaguely feeling deja vu.

When he heard the sound of the punches they’re flying at Chanyeol, Kyungsoo’s blood boiled in anger. He was about to launch himself inside before abruptly stopped. Realizing the possible outcome of what he’s about to do. For one, getting broken ribs.

And this time, there was none of his ghost friends to convince him out of it.

 _Is he meddling into Chanyeol’s business? Is this really not his fight? Is he doing the right thing? But, what is the right thing to do then? What is Chanyeol to him? Why he cares?_ , a stream of questions flooding Kyungsoo’s thought.

Chanyeol. Chanyeol was a classmate, an acquaintance. Someone, the only one who might actually understand about him and the ghosts, about what he had gone through. But more importantly, someone who had come to his aid before. Someone who cared about Kyungsoo enough, or stupid enough really, to literally take beatings in his stead.

But, Kyungsoo had paid him back for it. Right? By telling him about the ghosts, Kyungsoo justified himself.

Except it had ended rather badly.

Or maybe, Kyungsoo could take Chanyeol’s heroic attempt as a returned favor for helping to nurse Chanyeol’s wounds!

Except it was actually nothing compared to what Kyungsoo could have accomplished, if instead of just waiting outside, he had tried to stop it, or at least trying to find help.

It downed to him bitterly. Kyungsoo had failed Chanyeol. Again and again. He couldn’t even successfully be nice to him like he’s supposed to be.

Another loud kick could be heard, startling Kyungsoo. It’s time, it’s his cue to act on whatever decision he would make.

And he decided, that he’s not about to fail Chanyeol again. Not this time.

Pushing aside all of his common sense, Kyungsoo opened the door and screamed with all his might,

“STOP!”


	3. Chapter 3

“I used to make paper balls and try to hit the ceiling while lying down on the floor like this.”

“You were really bored, I see.”

“I was, most of the time. Despite having the ghosts to accompany me all the time they couldn’t play the games I had wanted to play. You know, like tag.”

“Poor you.”

“Yeah, somehow yeah.”

“Have you tried making friends? I mean human friends.”

“They’re all either too afraid, or they look down on me. I’m that weird kid in class you don’t want to be associated with.”

“That’s too bad. I bet you were really cute.”

“You-”

“Please, please don’t hurt me.” Chanyeol immediately squirmed.

“I couldn’t even if I wanted to. I can’t even move my body now.”

“Thank God.”

“You’re an idiot. I hate you.”

Yet Kyungsoo’s laugh that followed implied otherwise.

Chanyeol and Kyungsoo decided to just skip the rest of the class that day. They certainly did not want to be seen in that condition. They got beaten up pretty badly. Kyungsoo was never good in fighting anyway.

“We should go to the hospital to check for bone fractures,” Kyungsoo suggested.

Chanyeol squinted at him, “Dude, seriously what is it with you and bone checking?”

“What do you mean what? I want to live until old age. It’s important to have strong bones!”

“Say, is it because you’re afraid to know what will happen to you after you die? That maybe you’ll join your ghost friends?” Chanyeol wriggled his eyebrows.

“Hey! Who says you're allowed to read my mind!”

Kyungsoo looked so serious, Chanyeol couldn't help but to burst into a loud laugh. So loud that it made Kyungsoo turn his face away from Chanyeol.

Both of them still lying next to each other in the abandoned classroom.

“Hey. Hey, I’m sorry,” Chanyeol tried to surpsess his laugh and poked Kyungsoo's arm but the later didn’t budge.

“Sorry,” A quiet apology came instead.

Chanyeol's laugh died down completely as he turned meek, “For what? You don’t have to.”

“No, I do. I really do. I should apologize, to you. For the things I said about your sister, and about the polar bears.”

“You were mean to the polar bear.”

“Yeah, I admit that.”

The sound of their tinkling laughter filled the air.

“I have something to apologize to you for, too,” Chanyeol said softly, almost whispering.

“For bribing my ghost friends? I saw Tao and Sehun holding an iPhone today.”

“Oh! It worked? Do they like it?”

“They love it. But why would you do that?”

“Because my phone broke? I just thought, instead of throwing it away I should try burning it, you know. Didn't know it would work. This is so cool! I wonder what else I could burn.” Chanyeol grinned dreamily.

“What? It’s a real phone? Not from paper?”

“.. no?”

“Are you fucking rich or what?”

“I have allowance.”

“I have allowance too, but I’m not going to burn it for the ghosts?!?!”

Chanyeol only grinned in reply. They both stayed quiet for a while.

“How-” Chanyeol paused, hesitating over what he’s about to ask.

“What?”

“How did you know they took me here?”

“The ghost, Jongin, he told me.”

Chanyeol lips formed an o shape, “Was he, the one who told you about me too before?”

“Curiously, yeah. Actually he was.”

“I should burn something for him later then. To thank him.”

“Burn him a pillow. He’ll appreciate that.”

“I’ll make sure I will.”

Kyungsoo smiled, making a mental note to make Jongin thank him later for even asking it from Chanyeol.

“Is that why you couldn’t answer when I asked you at that time? About how you knew I was at the boy’s toilet?”

Kyungsoo quietly nodded.

“You were afraid that I would find out about the ghosts?”

“Can you blame me really?”

“Then why didn’t you lie to me? You could easily lie and say you were just walking by, you know. I would’ve believed that.”

“The ghosts told me the same thing too. But I simply don’t want to lie anymore. It bothers me just how much I had to lie all these years, trying to make myself appear normal. And it’s ridiculous, to pretend that the gossip about me and the ghosts doesn’t exist while pretty much everyone talks about it behind my back. I just don’t want to lie anymore. I’d rather not answer your questions than lie again.”

“Thank you though, for not lying to me back then. It actually made me curious enough to find out about you.”

“Trust me if I could turn back time, I would lie to you just to get you off my back.”

Chanyeol laughed and hit Kyungsoo’s shoulder lightly. But his face dropped when his eyes catch the visible bruises on Kyungsoo’s arm. A pang of guilt hit him.

“Thank you for coming for me today. Sorry about your bruises.”

“You did the same for me. I’m just returning the favor.”

Chanyeol pressed his lips into thin line, eyes wondering around, face grimacing.

"What happen? You look constipated," Kyungsoo teased.

Chanyeol could only let out a nervous laugh and after gathering himself back, he cleared his throat and said slowly, “Kyungsoo-ssi,”

“You can call me Kyungsoo, it’s okay. We’re the same age.”

“Kyungsoo, about the thing I wanted to apologize to you.”

“Yeah? What about that?”

“Promise me you won’t kill me for what I’m about to tell you now?”

“I don’t know. Try me.”

“No, you have to promise first!”

“Okay, I promise not to kill you,” Kyungsoo said apathetically.

Chanyeol hesitated for a while but told him anyway, “I was the one who recorded the beatings at the boys toilet and gave it to the headmaster.”

Kyungsoo let out a long groan. “Why am I not surprised. Is that why they’re going after you now?”

“Yes.”

“You’re lucky you had me promise not to kill you.”

“I know, I know, I’m sorry. But I swear I didn’t record it on purpose! I planted it there because some students told me there seemed to be suspicious snorings coming from an empty cubicle at the boy’s toilet so I just wanted to find out if it’s a ghost.”

Jongin. Sigh.

“You know ghosts don’t appear on camera, right?” Kyungsoo tried hard not to sound too pissed.

“Yeah, I figured. All I got is just boys peeing and making stupid jokes about each other’s peewee. I swear, it really creeps me out. I went there that day to take the camera out.”

“Don’t call it peewee.”

“But it’s really small!!”

“Chanyeol, stop! Focus!”

“Sorry…”

“So then what? They saw you?”

“Yeah, right before I could do it.”

“But why did you give it to the headmaster? You’re only getting yourself into trouble!”

“I wanted revenge, you know. It was the first time I ever got into trouble with other students, not to mention getting beaten up like that. I was really angry.”

“You’re an idiot.”

“Sorry it got you into trouble too.” “You can’t accomplish anything by taking revenge. It won’t end. Listen to me. Take for an example, if we were to report them to the school for what had happened today, the mafia dudes would get expelled, right.”

“Mafia dudes? You're calling them that? Really?”

“Chanyeol! Focus! That's another story for another day. Please! Really. Let’s go back! Okay, so, if the mafia dudes got expelled because of us, they would definitely go after us again. Then what? Report them to the police? Throw them into jail? For only how many months? Then they will get released, then go after us again. Then? Do you really want to live in that constant cycle of hell? Tell me!”

Chanyeol was pouting hard by then, “You’re scaring me. Please stop. I promise I won’t report them or do anything stupid. Please don’t scold me anymore.”

“Park Chanyeol, you’re an idiot.”

“I know, I’m sorry. I love you. Please forgive me.”

Kyungsoo slapped his palm to his forehead so hard it made a sound in the otherwise quiet room, “Please die or something.”

“Kyungsoo, that’s not a really nice thing to say to a friend,” Chanyeol whined.

“I hate you. I really do.”

“Kyungsoo…”

“Go away!”

 

 

※

 

 

The class was empty after school the next day. But it wasn’t supposed to be empty. There were supposed to be _them_ there, waiting for him like usual after his trip to the library to return the books. But he found no one.

Kyungsoo walked around the school in a few loops just to make sure. It’s too quiet. It’s too quiet for him to consider it as normal. And it made Kyungsoo worried.

When he finally completed a loop and returned to his classroom, Joonmyeon was already there, sitting on Kyungsoo’s seat. A wave of relief washed over him.

“Where are the others?” Kyungsoo asked when he came face to face with Joonmyeon.

“Detoxing,” The ghost answered with a smile.

“Detoxing?”

“From you.”

Kyungsoo especially didn’t like the kind of smile on Joonmyeon’s face right now. The apologetic smile that he made whenever he’s about to drop some unpleasant news.

Kyungsoo grew anxious. He could even feel his whole body trembling.

“Am I that toxic?” Kyungsoo tried to humor Joonmyeon anyway.

“You’re addicting. We love you too much.”

“So, after all these years you guys tried to keep me, now you decided to leave me?”

“New face, Park Chanyeol, we like him. He’s nice. And he protects you.”

“That’s not even a valid reason.”

“You have always wanted to leave anyway.”

“But not like this!” Kyungsoo slammed the table in front of him with both palms, frustrated.

Joonmyeon didn’t even flinch. He kept his smile steady and his gaze loving, “After almost a hundred years of only having each other, we were really ecstatic when Luhan brought you to us. I wouldn’t have expected it to actually take 11 years to learn to let you go.”

“Stop it! You sound like Minseok hyung, it creeps me out!”

“Kyungsoo, keep him. Keep Park Chanyeol with you.”

“If I can keep him, then why can’t I keep you guys?”

“Because we’ll be here no matter what. You don’t have to keep us.”

Joonmyeon walked out of the room and for the first time Kyungsoo actually cried because of the ghosts.

 

 

※

 

 

Chanyeol stuck to Kyungsoo like a glue ever since. And not even the good kind of glue, Kyungsoo would argue. He stuck around and crept the hell out of Kyungsoo at the same time with his signature eye twitching grin and blinding rows of white teeth.

“I told you to check your eyes to the hospital already!” Kyungsoo scowled. Chanyeol ignored him.

Nevertheless, like what Joonmyeon had asked, Kyungsoo didn’t push Chanyeol away.

He kept the giant with him.

Kyungsoo didn’t stay at the classroom alone after school anymore. He didn’t tell Chanyeol why, or that he couldn’t, did not, see the ghosts anymore. But Chanyeol didn’t ask anyway. He accompanied Kyungsoo to the library to do homework instead and took him home every day afterwards.

Sometimes, Chanyeol would buy tteokbokki from the street vendor and took Kyungsoo to the old building.

Taking out the big metal bowl and a lighter from the cupboard he had previously stored, Chanyeol cleaned the bowl and puts nine servings of tteokbokki on it. Kyungsoo only watched from the side.

Clasping his palms together, Chanyeol whispered, “It’s a bit spicy today but I hope you like it.” He then lit the lighter and waited until the tteokbokki was thoroughly consumed by fire.

Other times, Chanyeol would bring more stuff like the promised pillow for Jongin, or another soccer ball after Kyungsoo accidentally told him Minseok and Luhan especially loved it.

“You should burn something for them too, you know,” Chanyeol told Kyungsoo one day.

Kyungsoo snorted at that, “I’m not going to burn my money for them! Tsk! You spoil them too much!”

But some other day, unknown to Chanyeol, Kyungsoo would sneak in there and burned several servings of jjajangmyeon anyway.

“In case you’re bored of tteokbokki,” He said quietly. “I can’t make him change from tteokbokki. He insists on burning that every time. Sorry.”

Chanyeol was indeed stubborn when it came to what he believed in. And Kyungsoo learned it the hard way.

Chanyeol believed that they should pay respect to the ghosts by visiting them even during summer. And so Kyungsoo found himself being dragged to the school almost every single day during their two months long summer vacation.

“I don’t understand why I’m even friends with you! You idiot!” He screamed at Chanyeol one day after Chanyeol had dragged him off from the pool just to go to the school.

When Chanyeol squealed instead, “You finally admitted we are friends!”, under the hot weather of summer, it took three pool lifeguards to stop Kyungsoo from beating the crap out of Chanyeol right then and right there at the public pool.

At the management office, Chanyeol lied that Kyungsoo was angry because he had forgotten their pool date and had come late. “What a violent boyfriend,” was the only thing they got told before being released without any charge for public disturbance pressed against them.

Kyungsoo refused to pick up his call and ignored Chanyeol’s text for almost a week after that.

But Chanyeol wasn’t always annoying, Kyungsoo had to admit. Sometimes he could be really sweet too. When the weather started getting windy during autumn, without saying anything Chanyeol would always automatically stand on the side where the cold wind came from. His tall build blocked the wind from hitting Kyungsoo too much, and thus prevented the smaller boy from catching the flu as bad as Kyungsoo usually would in autumn. For that, Kyungsoo was grateful that Chanyeol was around, although he didn’t mention it to the giant.

Kyungsoo would also mostly ignore emails from his older brother, in which he would usually write, _‘When are you going to take your boyfriend to Jeju? I can get the honeymoon discount for you two to stay at a resort here, you know.’_ But when he did reply, he told him about Chanyeol and the things they did together.

Chanyeol was apparently a very skilled guitar player and Kyungsoo had started learning from him. Chanyeol could also knit and sew and cook, none that Kyungsoo would like to try but couldn’t help mentioning in his email.

Needless to say, Chanyeol was Kyungsoo’s, admittedly, very first human friend. He get really excited about it despite always acting the opposite in front of the said boy.

 

 

※

 

 

When December came, Chanyeol insisted for them to exchange gifts and spend Christmas Eve _and_ Christmas day together. Kyungsoo protested that Christmas should be spent with loved ones.

Chanyeol nodded at him dramatically, “Exactly.”

Kyungsoo ended up preparing two carefully wrapped gifts, after belatedly, very, very belatedly, realized he missed out Chanyeol’s birthday. No wonder the said boy was especially clingy on that day. Kyungsoo felt slightly guilty for brushing it off as Chanyeol being Chanyeol. But not guilty enough to not taking this opportunity to give Chanyeol a giraffe plushie as one of the gifts. “Suits you,” Kyungsoo told him.

Chanyeol excitedly accepted the gifts nevertheless, and shoved Kyungsoo a guitar case.

“My gift for you.”

Kyungsoo opened it and got utterly shocked, “But this is!!”

“Yeah, my favorite guitar. My father gave me when I first started learning. I want to give it to you.”

“But, Chanyeol!”

“No, no, no, don’t say no! My father loves you! He knows I’m giving it to you. Please don’t worry about it!” And since Chanyeol didn’t take no as an answer, Kyungsoo bashfully received the gift, promising he would take a good care of it and practice harder. Chanyeol replied with a thumbs-up.

They spent Christmas Eve at Chanyeol’s mom restaurant. The middle-aged lady served them kimchi pasta, Kyungsoo’s favorite.

“I should learn to make this one day. This is really delicious,” Kyungsoo muttered to himself.

“You’re the cutest friend Chanyeollie has ever brought here!” Chanyeol’s mom beamed at him upon hearing it.

Kyungsoo deadpanned at Chanyeol, “Seriously, please make more friends and bring them here.”

“But I only need you!” Chanyeol whined in reply.

Kyungsoo ignored him.

 

 

※

 

 

After celebrating New Year’s, yet again together, Kyungsoo accompanied Chanyeol to the old hospital Chanyeol’s sister went to.

As expected Kyungsoo couldn’t see any ghosts there, but at least it put Chanyeol’s curiosity to rest.

“She left peacefully. I hope she’s in a better place now.”

Kyungsoo nodded and quietly held Chanyeol’s hand as they walked side by side under the cold snow of January.

 

 

※

 

 

Sometimes, though, Kyungsoo really considering taking Chanyeol to a remote mountain and abandoning him there. And the thought crossed Kyungsoo’s mind once again when Chanyeol’s voice boomed throughout the school from the speaker that day, on Kyungsoo’s birthday, in a middle of a freaking lesson.

_“DO KYUNGSOO, YOU’RE MY BESTFRIEND AND MY BEST BRO. AND YOU HAVE THE CUTEST SMILE I’VE EVER SEEN! PLEASE SMILE MORE. I LOVE YOU! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!”_

Kyungsoo’s face turned beetroot red as he sank lower and lower in his seat, feeling the heat of his classmates’ and teacher’s curious gaze upon him.

And as if it’s not enough, Chanyeol had to come marching into the class with a guitar in his hand, strumming and singing to the happy birthday song.

The class erupted in cheers and all sorts of cat-calling as Chanyeol ended his short song with a heart dance he learned from youtube the night before.

By then Kyungsoo’s whole body was completely under the table, curling into himself.

“Kyungsoo ya,” Chanyeol called out for him. Kyungsoo refused to move and started cursing Chanyeol under his breath.

“Kyungsoo ya, Do Kyungsoo.” Kyungsoo could feel Chanyeol gently tugging his arm.

But then there’s a “Do Kyungsoo!” coming not from Chanyeol, and a “Kyungsoo-ssi!” as well as a “Kyungsoo yah!” from more and more people.

Kyungsoo’s eyes widened as he lifted his face and saw his classmates standing around him, with warm smiles he had never once thought possibly being the receiving end of.

“Kyungsoo ya, happy birthday.”

 

 

※

 

 

Chanyeol was indeed a good friend, Kyungsoo decided.

If not for Chanyeol, Kyungsoo didn’t think he would’ve ever managed to get grades as good as the ones appearing on his exam result paper. He’s even graduating as one of the top 10 students, with Chanyeol undoubtedly occupying the first position.

The giant with a creepy grin and childish pouts possessed many hidden skills that surprised Kyungsoo to no end, and was indeed a genius when it comes to academics.

So Kyungsoo really couldn’t understand when Chanyeol decided to put Kyungsoo’s choice of university, not even among the top in Seoul, also as his own choice. Moreover also deciding to major in teaching, besides taking music as his second major.

Chanyeol was a good but annoying kind of friend, Kyungsoo corrected himself.

“Why are you taking teaching too?” Kyungsoo demanded frustratedly.

“Why are you taking teaching then?”

“I don’t need to tell you!”

“Because I know why already! And so do you!”

“I like teaching!”

“Says the one who is still socially awkward.”

Kyungsoo jabbed Chanyeol in the stomach. Chanyeol crouched to cough but tried to return the jabs anyway. Kyungsoo quickly brought him down on a headlock.

“You’re sticking too much to me!”

“My thirst for you is real.”

“You’re damn annoying!”

“If the ghost hyungs had 11 years with you, I demand at least the same amount of time! Plus now that you decided to take teaching, you’ll come back here to teach, right? You ain’t fooling anyone Do Kyungsoo!”

“Still doesn’t mean you can stick your fat ass around me even in uni!”

“What are you talking about! My asses are not fat! You’ve seen them! They’re fabulous!”

“You gross! It was an accident! Stop bringing it up! Why am I even friends with you!”

“Because you know I love you the most! Beside the ghost hyungs.”

“Stop talking about them!”

“But you know that’s true!”

“It’s not! They don’t love me anymore! You know that!”

“You’re upsetting them! Stop!”

Kyungsoo let Chanyeol out of the headlock and started pouting. Kyungsoo didn’t pout often but he kned exactly what it did to Chanyeol.

“I’m sorry I’m sorry, please don’t be sad. I’m really sorry,” Chanyeol quickly pleaded while massaging Kyungsoo's shoulders from behind. "But maybe you should call for them, you know, maybe they will appear again."

"Over my dead body," Kyungsoo walked away.

"Kyungsoo!" Chanyeol ran after him, whining.

 

 

※

 

 

Kyungsoo had been dreaming about his graduation day since that fateful first day in primary school. And it finally arrived, the day Kyungsoo finally graduated from school.

He had always imagined that the ghosts would be wailing beside him while he shoves his high school diploma in their faces.

But none of it was happening. They were still nowhere to be seen.

Since it's their last day in school, Chanyeol had been bugging him nonstop to try to find the ghosts again. Kyungsoo tried to ignore him but silently agreed that yes, it’s probably the right time to see them again after almost nine months of not being in contact.

Kyungsoo sat on his usual seat, with the all too familiar after school ambience. The quiet empty class, the descending afternoon sunlight, the smell of chalk from the freshly cleaned blackboard. And It felt like it was just yesterday when he sat here working on his homework with the ghosts accompanying him, albeit noisily.

The graduation ceremony had ended hours ago. His parents had gone somewhere with their newly made friends, Chanyeol's parents.

Chanyeol himself had disappeared somewhere without telling him. He's probably at the old building burning things again. Kyungsoo could only hope the clumsy giant didn’t accidentally burn the whole building instead.

But Kyungsoo couldn’t be bothered to worry about Chanyeol.

Because he's waiting.

Kyungsoo was waiting.

He tapped his watch in the same rhythm with the seconds. He would wait patiently, he promised himself.

It was half past six in the afternoon. Kyungsoo had been waiting for nearly two hours. He's getting anxious.

"Is this how it will end?" He started talking, hoping any of the ghosts would hear him.

"Did I not wait patiently for you guys to detox from me? Is nine months still not enough? Or are you going to hide forever from me? Didn't I do what you ask me, Joonmyeon hyung? I did keep Chanyeol with me. I even made him my friend like you told me to, Minseok hyung. I even made friends with some of my classmates, Chanyeol introduced me to.”

Kyungsoo balled his hands, trying to hold back his tears.

“And I told Chanyeol a lot about you guys, Yixing hyung. But I didn't tell him how you got your pink hair, Luhan hyung, I protected your image! Am I not good enough? Jongdae? Baekhyun? Tao? Jongin? Sehun? Are you all mad at me without telling me? Why do you keep avoiding me? Am I not your friends anymore? Minseok hyung said you all knew I was soft and weak inside. But why are you being cruel like this to me?"

Tears were already streaming down his face by then.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry for every mean word I ever said to you. I'm never good at expressing love, you know that, right. I'm sorry for taking your love for granted. I missed you."

Chanyeol always had either a very good or a very bad timing, Kyungsoo noticed as the giant boy stormed into the room right then. "Kyungsoo! Kyungsoo ya, what happened to you? Kyungsoo ya!" and enveloped the still crying boy into a hug, awkwardly bending down from where he stood beside Kyungsoo.

"What are you doing here? Go away!" Kyungsoo struggled to release himself from the hug.

"My _Kyungsoo-is-sad_ radar was beeping hard, so I came running to find you!"

"You're an idiot if you think I will believe that."

"At least it's more romantic than just telling you I just happened to walk by and saw you, right?"

"I don't need you to be romantic, you gross!"

"How nice of you to accept me for all I am! This is so great! I don't even have to try to please you anymore!"

Kyungsoo sighed, letting himself fall into Chanyeol’s hug, not having the energy to argue with him.

Plus he's right anyway. At this point there's actually nothing Kyungsoo hoped Chanyeol would change. Maybe he did like being clinged to.

"They're not here yet?" Chanyeol asked softly while patting Kyungsoo's back. They sat side by side after Chanyeol pulled a chair next to Kyungsoo.

"No. They’re not."

"I'm sorry."

"It's okay."

"No, it's not! It makes you sad, so it's not okay."

"You Park Cheeseball."

"Am I getting a pet name now? This is yet another huge progress!"

"Don't make me roll my eyes on you."

"Learn to accept my love then."

"One day, _young one_ , one day I'll find a way."

Chanyeol shot him an incredulous look, "Are you using my sentence on me?"

"I totally did." Kyungsoo grinned.

"Your sassy ass is back, I can see. In a better mood now? Can you promise me no more crying?"

Kyungsoo's lips started quivering instead, as if he's going to cry again. Chanyeol went panicked, "Kyungsoo-yah! Kyungsoo! Kyungsoo!"

"Chanting my name won't make me stop crying," Kyungsoo pointed out, but breaking into a big smile anyway, "It was cute to see you panicking because of me though."

"You little piece of-!!"

"Piece of what? Ah? What?"

"Piece of my love, of course! Mwah mwah." Chanyeol mades a kissy face at him.

Kyungsoo jabbed into Chanyeol's gut with one strong fist. Chanyeol fell to the floor dramatically.

"It's a punch of love," Chanyeol said with a pained voice.

"Whatever you say, Chanyeol, whatever you say."

Kyungsoo was still chuckling, enjoying the sight of a whining Chanyeol on the floor when he heard something that mades him jolt from his chair.

It's _that_ again. That cries again.

_"Baaaaaooooziiii where are you? Baozi are you there? Baozi why are you hiding from me, what did I do wrong? Baozi? Baozi? Honey?"_

Kyungsoo really didn’t know whether to laugh or cry for being able to hear it again.

"Kyungsoo what's wrong?" Chanyeol looked at him confused.

The second time Kyungsoo heard _baozi_ being called out again, Kyungsoo bolted out of the room to follow the source of the voice. Chanyeol ran after him.

"Luhan! Luhan hyung!" Kyungsoo started calling out when he couldn't find the said ghost. "Luhan hyung!"

Kyungsoo ran and ran and sweept the whole floor. Some students who were still staying behind looked at him bewildered but Kyungsoo couldn't care any less.

Fate was not only harsh on him, it played jokes too, Kyungsoo noted.

For the second time after 12 years, Kyungsoo found Luhan at one of the corridors. Panic written all over his face. "Kyungsoo! Baozi is gone!" He cried to Kyungsoo when he spotted him.

"I'll help you to find him," Kyungsoo walked towards Luhan slowly, with tender smile.

"You will?"

Kyungsoo nodded. "New face will help you too," pointing at Chanyeol beside him.

Chanyeol voiced a questioning whine.

"New face!" Luhan beamed at Chanyeol.

"Luhan hyung, the pink haired one, is standing right before us," Kyungsoo explained

"Ooh, sorry I can't-"

If it had been another way, Chanyeol wouldn't be lying unconscious at that moment on the floor. But Luhan had literally materialized in front of him and apparently the boy couldn’t handle shock very well.

"I will call him Fainting Yeol from now on," Kyungsoo nodded contently.

"Well this is really random. Does it mean new face can see us too now?" Yixing asked, appearing out of nowhere.

"We would have to wait for him to wake up to know that," Minseok replied. "And Luhan! Stop calling me Baozi and crying for me like a lunatic! I was only away with Yixing to the old building to pick up the food Chanyeol delivered for us. You're being over dramatic!" Which gets a weep of “Sorry” from the scolded ghost. Minseok tsk-ed when Luhan cling onto him, but didn’t push him away.

Like a chain reaction though, an exasperated Baekhyun appeared to join in the complaints almost immediately, "Luhan hyung! Why! Seriously why! You're ruining our grand entrance! I told you we would march inside the class after Kyungsoo and new face finally kiss.”

Kyungsoo was totally not following, “What?”

But Baekhyun ignored him and continue, “Why you had to ruin it! Nine bloody months of Joonmyeon hyung’s nonsense detoxing idea he convinced us into is wasted for nothing! Nothing! Thanks to you!”

"Wait, wait! Baekhyun wait! Hold on! People, hold on!"

"We're not people," Sehun corrected him, appearing with a sleepy looking Jongin.

"Not now, Sehun! Guys, care to explain?"

"Joonmyeon hyung," Tao pointed at the said ghost, "convinced us that if we avoided you until graduation, we could see you and new face kiss. I said it's a long time to wait for just a kiss, but he said you both were slow just like that."

After receiving a death glare from Kyungsoo, Joonmyeon mouthed “Sorry” and slowly slid himself behind a laughing Yixing to hide.

Oblivious to the murderous vibe coming from Kyungsoo, the ghosts had then started to argue amongst themselves just how long would it take for Chanyeol and Kyungsoo to kiss. Jongdae suggested placing bets.

Kyungsoo facepalmed. What a reunion.

"We miss you too, so just you know," Jongin leaned in to Kyungsoo from the side with a smile. Kyungsoo returned his smile appreciatively. “And we miss him too,” Jongin pointed at Chanyeol. The giant was still awkwardly sprawling on the floor.

Kyungsoo sighed and squatted down beside Chanyeol, poking him on the face, "Sometimes I wonder how uneventful my last year here would be if I hadn't run to the boy's toilet that day for you, Park Chanyeol."

And right when Kyungsoo placed his palms to cup Chanyeol’s face to shake him awake, an excited Luhan shrieked at him, "Oh my, oh my! Look at that! Kyungsoo, are you going to kiss him? Like, right now? Is new face your Snow White princess?"

Kyungsoo wondered what’s wrong with that one hyung.

"Too fast, _young one_ , too fast for a kiss." Kyungsoo slapped Chanyeol lightly on the cheek. "We still have at least ten years together. Still a long way to go."

The ghosts cried dramatically at the back, "Do we really have to wait another ten years to see you two kiss?!"

Kyungsoo rolled his eyes, with a smile evident on his face.

 

Such a questionable group of friends, albeit an endearing one.

 

**FIN.**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> \- The alleged [heart dance](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m9i5szsA7v1rpkpvho1_250.gif) Chanyeol did on Kyungsoo’s birthday lol  
> \- The practice of burning food and stuff for ghosts is a real Chinese tradition.  
> \- Korean high school is 3 years long, starting in March and ending in February of the next year. They have two major vacations, summer and winter. The summer vacation starts after the first semester, mid-July until August. The story started around May.  
> \- Wrote this within 7 days ahahahaha  
> \- Special thanks to my bebe xiu_jie@lj. This fic won’t exist without your support ♥︎


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